2The Lord, the God of Israel, has said, Put down in a book all the words which I have said to you.
3For see, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will let the fate of my people Israel and Judah be changed, says the Lord: and I will make them come back to the land which I gave to their fathers, so that they may take it for their heritage.
4And these are the words which the Lord said about Israel and about Judah.
5This is what the Lord has said: A voice of shaking fear has come to our ears, of fear and not of peace.
6Put the question and see if it is possible for a man to have birth-pains: why do I see every man with his hands gripping his sides, as a woman does when the pains of birth are on her, and all faces are turned green?
7Ha! for that day is so great that there is no day like it: it is the time of Jacob's trouble: but he will get salvation from it.
8For it will come about on that day, says the Lord of armies, that his yoke will be broken off his neck, and his bands will be burst; and men of strange lands will no longer make use of him as their servant: